When Do You Start Kissing a Guy On the Lips As Your Hello?

This morning, my friend Maya was telling me that she’s “reaching a point” with a guy that she’s been dating. “It’s getting awkward,” she told me. “At what point in the dating process do you kiss someone hello on the lips? Is that too coupley for the dating stage?” The reason she asks is not that she’s dying to kiss him when she sees him necessarily, but because it seems odd when you’ve macked full-on with someone, and then the next time you see him, you kiss him on the cheek. Two steps back?

Well, hell-o.

A dating expert would say, “Just do what feels natural,” but the dilemma is, her natural doesn’t match his natural. It’s like, you’re thinking one thing, and you approach him, and he hugs you. Loosely.

My “natural” is a lot more casual, friendly, and affectionate than most people’s. I’m immediately comfortable with people. I’ll tell you my life story on the first date if you ask, and I’ll hug someone after I’ve met him or her five minutes previously. I border on inappropriate. I once called a professor “Barb” instead of Dr. Smith. Oops!

Last April, I polled readers about how they greet a blind date, i.e. a guy they don’t know. Among the many answers, 31% of you hug, 29% of you shake hands, 23% of you let him make the move, and a full 4% of you think, “Don’t touch me with a 10-foot pole” (you better stay away from me, haha!!).

So when does that dude you shook hands with become someone you kiss on the lips as a greeting? What if you've made out before? Is a kiss on the lips too coupley for the early stages?